Advertising device or novelty



Apf 23, m5.

H. H. CAMERON Igg ADVERTISING DEVICE OR NOVELTY Filed Aug. 17, 1934 /WATER/A1. g f

Aar/En TAS/NG /i/M TER/A L ACH/J .QVENT i.,

Patented Apr. 23, 1935 Utili@ 2 Claims.

The object of this invention has been to produce a simple andmeritorious advertising novelty or device primarily useful in connectionwith competitions or contests instituted by advertisers for 5 creatingsales interest in their products, or for keeping the names ofadvertisers constantly before the public. Y

Another object ci the invention has been to so design the advertisingnovelty or device as to lend an element of mystery or secrecy to certainindicia which is applied thereto and which must be consulted and used inconjunction with 'the contest or competition for which the advertisingnovelty is employed. Describing the invention somewhat more specically,in its preferred form, l avail of a common type of match holder such asWell known today for use in supplying paper matches, such amatch holderlending itself very excellently to the application thereto ofadvertising data which advertises the person or concern put ting out thematch holder to the public. I locate in certain space between the matchcarrying tabs and the back of the cover portionof the holder, thenormally secret or hidden indicia which is to be used for the contestpurposes, and this indicia preferably takes the form of a series ofletters of the valphabet'or it may comprise numbers or other charactersof a similar nature. The indicia is maintainedhidden' normally when thematch holder is dispensed tothe user by being located atv a portion ofthe cover member for the matches intermediate the match carrying iiapand the back of the cover portion, and is kept hidden by means of thestaple or fastening member that attaches the match carrying tabs to thesaid carrying iiap and back of the cover member.

Now in the use ci my invention I contemplate that the manufacturer orproducer of the goods, or other person or concern utilizingr myadvertising novelty shall establish a contest or competi tion.Preferably this competition may take the form of a competitive jinglecontest wherein the person receiving the match holder is required by therules of the contest to write a jingle or limerick, say of two lines,using the letters printed in the match holder or equivalent article atthe normally hidden or closed' portion thereof which is clamped closedby the staple above referred to. The conductor of the contest, namelythe advertiser, will oier a prize or prizes for the best jingle producedby using the letters or indicia found in the match holder. Since thisindicia is not accessible when the receiver obtains the same from thestore, restaurant, cigar counter, or other place from which the holderswill be given out, he does not know when he asks for one of these matchholders what letters comprise the hidden indicia of the article, butafter the article is in his possession he will tear the back of thecover portion away from the match holding flap and this will expose toView the said indicia, whereupon he may avail thereoin for the purposeoi writing his jingle or jingles to submit in the contest.

Now an especial object of the invention has been to so construct orform, the back oi the cover member of the match holder as to readilypermit of this back being torn away from the match holding tabs in sucha manner that the letters comprising the indicia for writing the jinglewill be fully exposed to View.

Oi course the user oi the article dispensed, which in this instance is amatch holder, will be required to furnish at the time he sends in thejingle or limerick in the contest referred to, the empty match holder orholders from which he has obtained the letters that are used by him vinWriting his jingle or limerick. Under these conditions, it is obviousthat the person who enters the contest and who employs the useful matchholder or article of manufacture constituting the instrumentalitycarrying the indicia for the contest will retain the match holders orequivalent articles in his possession for a certain periodof time, asfor instance the week during which the contest is running, even thoughthe matches in the match holder have been used up. Therefore theadvertiser gains the benefit of the continuous presence of hisadvertisement in the possession of the user of the same, or thecontestant. li/ioreover,` there is another peculiar advantage derivedb-y the advertiser or those stores or' other places which dispense thearticle used in the contest, for the advertiser. In other Words, personswill be caused, by reason of the carrying on'o the contest, to call backat the store, or other place where the articles of the invention arebeing given out, so as to get additional of these articles since in thecarrying out of the contest the articles will have diiierent series ofletters or indicia and the more of these letters that are in thepossession of the contestant the greater will be the latitude with whichhe will be able to prepare his jingle or limerick by reason of theenlarged scope of use of words incident to the increased number ofletters comprising the indicia carried by the article of manufacture oradvertising novelty.

A more full understanding oi the details of the construction of myadvertising novelty incident primarily to the mode of secreting theindicia applied thereto and the manner in which this indicia is madeaccessible readily by the peculiar construction and arrangement of thefastening means and enclosing parts will be had upon reference to theaccompanying drawing, in whichn Y Figure 1 is a front View of a matchholder showing a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a View similar to Figure l but showing the match holder openor with the front flap of the cover outspread to enable a match to betorn off and used.

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 1 but showing the opposite side ofthe match holder or novelty and illustrating the weakening slots andopenings adjacent to the staple enabling the back of the cover to beseparated from the match. supporting tabs in such a way as to expose thesecret indicia.

Figure e is a view illustrating the match holder as when the back of thecover is torn away from the stapled match holding tabs and match holdingap exposing the letters or secret indicia useful for the contestpurposes or" the invention.

Figure 5 is a broken or fragmentary view similar to certain portions ofFigure ll, but showing a different selection of letters constituting thehidden indicia.

The detail features of the invention are or extreme simplicity as theinvention is embodied in an ordinary paper match holder such ascornmonly dispensed today, generally without charge, by restaurants, atcigar counters, in hotels, and the like, these match holders beingusually supplied by manufacturers or advertisers to be given away, forthe advantage of the advertising.

With the above in mind, vsuch a match holder may be described asconsisting of a cover including a front flap or member l a back or basemember 2, the latter having its lower portion folded upon itself toprovide a match carrying and scratch iiap S. The matches are papermatches as shown at i in the drawing and they are intei gral with theattaching tabs 5 and slit apart in the customary way. The matches areheld in the cover by a staple which passes through the flap 3, the matchholding tabs 5, and the lower portion of the back Z of the cover member.Usually there are two layers of matches and therefore there are two tabs5.

Now for the contest or competition purposes that have been previouslydescribed, I place on the portion of the back 2 of the cover adjacent tothe inner edges of the tabs 5, letters comprising indicia 'i'. Theseletters as illustrated in Figure l will run for certain match holders tobe dispensed as consecutive letters of the alphabet from A to J. Inothers of the match holders or advertising novelties dispensed, theseletters will run say from B to K to provide the indicia l. This idea maybe carried out by using any series of different selections of letters toprovide the indicia T, the idea being to employ different series ofletters in order that the contestant in the competition may desire tocall back at the same store or place dispensing the articles severaltimes, having in View that he will possibly receive additional of thenovelties carrying additional series of letters because the more lettershe has to work with for his jingle or limerick, the greater latitude hewill have in wording the latter. Or, in carrying out the invention, acertain store or similar place may have match holders with one series ofletters for the indicia 'l and other stores may have match visible whenthe contestant receives the article of manufacture, because the indiciais located inY that portion of the back 2 which is clamped closed, so tospeak, by the staple 6.

Now to facilitate access to the indicia 1 I provide the back 2 with aslot or slit 8 at one side of the staple 6, and with perforations l G atthe portion directly beneath the staple 6. By providing the slit 8andwthe'perforations IB, I establish a weakened area designated II inFigure fl, of the back 2, which area or section may be readily torn outof said back when the back is pulled away from the tabs 5 to which it isclamped by the staple 6. Of course, when the weakened section or area li is thus torn awayit leaves an opening l2 in the back 2 and exposes toview all of the characters of the indicia 'l making them convenientlyaccessible to the person who receives the article of manufacture oradvertising novelty and proposes to avail of the indicia 'l in enteringthe contest in which the article is to be employed.

Of course, in this contest there will be offered prizes of stipulatedamounts to be dispensed at the end of a week or month or any suitablepredetermined period of time, and the rules of the contest will requirethat the ruptured covers or match holders exposing the letters used bythe contestant in the Wordsof hisjingle be returned at the time thecontestantsends in his jingle or limerick, for enabling the award ofprizes for the best ones.

Were it not for the peculiar formation of the weakened section or areaII by the provision of the slit 8 and perforations provisions, when theback 2 is torn away from the tabs 5 carrying the matches 4 or the stubso1' these matches, the staple 6 would tend to hold securely a portion ofthe back 2 beneath the staple and this portion would be retained on thetabs and carry with it certain of the intermediate letters of theindicia 1 so that these letters could not be seen without furthermutilation of the back 2, and indeed by such mutilation the lettersmight themselves be'mutilated and rendered invisible. f

Of course it is to be understood that suitable advertising may becarried in the vadvertising space designated I3 in Figures 1 and 3. Iffound desirable, suitable instruction slips may be handed to the personsto whom the match holders are dispensed in order to advise them of therules of competition, or, under some conditions, these rules may beprinted directly upon the match holders or advertising novelties.

Obviously, some persons will not be able to write a jingle or limerickWith only the letters supplied by the indicia 1 of one of the matchholders they receive. They require some additional letters in order toget the necessary words of their jingle in and to authorize the use ofsome additional letters for their jingles. Under these conditions suchpersons may call back at the different dispensing places for the matchholders .several times until they get a suflicient number of letters aswill enable them to enter their jingle as Written in the particularcontest. The dislll or equivalentY tributors of the match holders willpreferably operate under a rule to supply only one match holder to aperson each time he calls, and other similar rules to establish fairnessof the contest to which my novelty is employed. My advertising noveltycomprises obviously a dispensing package having useful removableelements such as matches secured therein, and folded so as to hide theuseful indicia from normal view, the stapling or fastening meansmaintaining the said indicia hidden but engaging a weakened section ofthe cover so as to enable this section to be ruptured or broken awayfrom the cover readily to expose the said indicia after the article hasbeen dispensed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. In an advertising novelty of the cla-ss described, in combination, adispensing package comprising` a cover, removable elements carried bysaid cover, indicia applied to the cover, and fastening means securingthe said removable ele ments to the cover in such a way as to cause thecover to overlap the indicia and hide the same from view in the normalcondition of the package, said removable elements comprising tabsattached to the cover by said fastening means, and the fastening meanscomprising a staple passing through the cover and the said tabs, thearea of the covei1 adjacent to the tabs being weakened in its connectionto the cover so that when the cover is pulled away from the staple theweakcned section adjacent to the staple will be separated from the coverto afford the exposure of the indicia aforesaid.

2, A match dispensing package comprising a cover including a back, and afront nap, said cover having a match tab securing flap extending fromthe back and folded thereon, removable elements comprising matches andmatch tabs carrying said matches, the match tabs received between saidmatch holding flap and the back of the cover, a staple passing throughthe match tabs, the cover, and said iiap, and indicia located adjacentto the point at which the said flap is folded to fold upon the cover andsaid match tabs, said indicia normally being hidden in the dispensingcondition of the package with the cover stapled to the match holdingtabs, and said cover being separable from the match tabs in order toexpose said indicia, the back of the cover adjacent to the portionfastened by the staple being provided with a weakening slit adjacent tosaid staple and with perforations beneath the staple establishing aweakened area or section so that when the back of the cover is pulledaway from the tabs holding the matches, said weakened area or sectionwill be separated from the back of the cover to thereby fully expose theindicia applied in the manner stated.

HERBERT H. CAMERON.

